In our new feature, GG are beginning our series of Top 10s across the world of racing. Off the back of the Cheltenham Festival, we start with GG’s own opinion of the top 10 chasers in Britain and Ireland, which will be updated monthly.
1. Galopin Des Champs
The Gold Cup hero is readily proving himself to be the best chaser either side of the Irish Sea since Sprinter Sacre and Kauto Star. A second Gold Cup cemented his legacy in the history books, but that does not mean it cannot yet be improved upon.
A third Gold Cup will inevitably be in his sights a year from now, but there may well be time to correct mistakes made last season at Punchestown before then. Defeats by Fastorslow either side of his seasonal break put a dampener on his reputation, but victory at Punchestown this season would see him become only the second horse to win the Irish, Cheltenham and Punchestown Gold Cups in the same season.
2. Gerri Colombe
Such is the greatness of Galopin Des Champs that it can be easy to disregard other staying chasers’ merits. However, Gerri Colombe has only ever been beaten by two horses in his National Hunt career: GDC has now had him in arrears twice, while he was also a fractional runner-up to The Real Whacker in the 2023 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.
Otherwise, Gordon Elliott’s bombastic chaser has been flawless and was under four lengths behind the now dual Gold Cup champion in Cheltenham’s showpiece earlier this month. He may have the sour luck of continually meeting that rival, but owners Robcour see that as a privilege and that one day, Gerri will come home on top.
3. El Fabiolo
His was the greatest aberration at the Festival, but El Fabiolo is still a horse of exceptional talent. His jumping has been scruffy since day one, but rarely has it been catastrophic. Cheltenham proved that, unfortunately, he has a race-ending mistake in his locker.
Pulling up soon after that error ensured his unbeaten streak over fences ended, but no horse in Britain or Ireland had come close to matching him over the larger obstacles beforehand. Redemption can be claimed at Punchestown barring similar faults before the Champion Chase becomes his sole aim next season.
4. Fastorslow
Another faller at the Festival, but it remains the case that Fastorslow is one of just two horses to beat Galopin Des Champs when the great champion has stayed upright. An innocuous unseat in the Gold Cup ended his chance of becoming a three-time party pooper, but he is possibly as underrated as any horse in training and is capable of upstaging any horse at his best.
5. Jonbon
The first horse on this list to have missed Cheltenham, it should not be forgotten that Jonbon has won three Grade 1s since being beaten in last year’s Arkle and really should have added a fourth in the rearranged Clarence House Chase. It seems endemic of great two-mile chasers to make significant blunders over obstacles, but when in full cry, only El Fabiolo is his superior in this division.
6. Fact To File
The highest-ranking novice, Fact To File demonstrated immense ability at both Leopardstown and Cheltenham. His defeat of stablemate Gaelic Warrior at the former looks all the more bloodless and impressive now, while the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase proved a formality for JP McManus’ seven-year-old. Open company awaits for him to test his true mettle.
7. Shishkin
The only horse who could make Gaelic Warrior seem like a teachers’ pet, Shishkin missed Cheltenham as so many others did under Nicky Henderson’s cloud. However, he would have been a King George winner earlier this term and could easily lay claim to have been best of the British in the Gold Cup had he taken part. His story has at least a few chapters left.
8. Corach Rambler
Grand National winners are classier than ever before, but Corach Rambler joined a select bunch in making the frame in a Gold Cup after having won Aintree’s big steeplechase. Only Hedgehunter and Mon Mome had done so this century and a second Grand National success is perfectly set up as long as his Cheltenham exertions take no toll.
9. Protektorat
The Ryanair Chase does not quite sit in the pantheon of the Gold Cup or Champion Chase yet, but there is every case to be made that Protektorat won a stronger race than the latter. It marked a second Grade 1 success for Dan Skelton’s charge, who was also third in the 2022 Gold Cup and he may not be done yet with a tilt at Aintree’s Betway Bowl chase mooted.
10. Captain Guinness
It feels strange to have one of the two Cheltenham Festival championship winners so low on this list, but the Queen Mother Champion Chase, not for the first time in recent years, totally fell apart with absentees. Nevertheless, Captain Guinness has been a consistent top level performer for some time and earned this first Grade 1.
GG Top 10 Hurdlers – March 2024
We announced our inaugural top 10 chasers according to GG experts earlier this week. Now it is the time of the top 10 hurdlers. Running the rule over those proved difficult, but our selections below highlight plenty of form outside of the Cheltenham Festival as well. 1. Constitution Hill The Cheltenham Festival only served to…
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